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ISRAEL ROCKS! A Journey Through Music of Visions and Divisions
A 55-minute TV documentary
Can you grasp Israel by its rock and pop bands? Can you see through them the complexities, the tribulation and the dreams of this young country? Can you sense through song and music the divisions among its people, their craving for peace, their pain and their disillusionment of war?
That’s exactly what ISRAEL ROCKS! is about.
Hearing the band of the rocker Rabbi Tuvia Bolton who sings of the Messiah who’ll come and fix everything while Shalom Hanoch sings that the messiah will never come and he will not even phone, one can perceive the clash between the religious and the anti-religious Jews that came to a head with the killing of prime minister Rabin by a religious Jew.
Shlomo Artzi, the Israeli pop singer, sings of that event wondering who’s next to be killed in this country of fear.
And through the songs of the Palestinian pop singer Amal Murkus and the choir of the Jewish settlers in the Golan Hights, one can sense the struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shimon Peres, who surprisingly wrote a peace-song titled "She Was Born Out Of a Dream" sung by Shlomo Gronich and "Sheba" his choir of Jewish Ethiopian teenagers, puts war and peace in perspective. He says: "Wars were relevant when the survival of people was based on land, but now that the survival is based on the human mind, wars have become irrelevant."
Each one of the revealing songs in ISRAEL ROCKS! depicts the major problems facing the people of Israel from politics to poverty, and their dreams for, and their attempt to create a better future.
And meaningful songs can make us understand the deep feelings of people in a troubled country and reward us with an awareness we all need.
There are some 20 singers, bands and choirs in this TV documentary, playing and singing in various styles: pop, rock, blues, folk and rap.
Among others are:
The choir of The Disabled War Veterans of the Israeli Army singing "From the Fires of War."
The rock band White Flag which surprisingly combines Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs from the Gaza Strip who sing in English and Arabic the Beatles' song "Oh, Darling."
Aviv Gefen who sings "We’re a Fucked Up Generation." The rock group The Joys, a mixture of a religious Jew, an Arab, two Russian immigrants and a non-religious Israeli, that sing "Let’s Share the Moon."
Ping-Pong the Israeli choice for the Eurovision 2000 sings the song "Sameah" (Happy) with a young woman who sings: "I Have a New Boyfriend From Damascus."
The Cubes, who protest against the enormous gap between rich and poor with their song "To Burn the Money."
The young rap group Snake Fish with their protest song "We're No Suckers" about their disillusionment from the policies of the Israeli politicians. The Israeli pop singer from Yemenite extraction Marglit Tzanani who asserts the voice of the voiceless with her song "Walls of Clay"
and "Absolut" the singers of the new Russian immigrants. The Platinum" with their anti-religious song "Opium for the Masses."
"Israel" the Anarchist rock band with their song "In the First Daylight.""The Mind Church" with their song "What's Left That Doesn't Hurt."
The composer Nurit Hirsh in a sing-along concert with The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.
And the world famous singer Noa with her song "Homemade Religion."
Dutch broadcast: May 14, 2000, on national channel 1, by AVRO's Close-Up. Special repeat, following the winning of the URTI Prize, Prix Arman and the Gold Medal in the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, February 2001: March 18, 2001, at 18:30, Dutch national channel 1.
This program, a co-production with the AVRO television, was made possible with the help of:
Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Omroepproducties, NCDO and Stichting Co-productiefonds Binnenlandse Omroep
The artists who participate in the film are:
Shlomo Artzi, Meir Israel, Avi Singolda, Gil Feldman, Ami Ofir, Arie Volinitz, Zili Yanko, Nitzan Ein Habar, Shai Meiri, Shai Dagan, Adi Meiri, Uri Chonstkovski, Ilan Berkovitz
“Kol Barama”: Chaim Sapiria, Yona Binyamin, Shosh Romi, Noa Ya’ari, Mindi Horvitz, Sara Dagan, Ronit Gofer, Dina Marans, Benny Eitan, Rinat Attia-Gillis, Rutey Bochnik, Vardina Shnurman, Yoram Bass, Ron Ravid, Irit Israeli
Amal Murkus, Naseem Dakwer, Ramsi Ibsharat, Elmar Fel “The Equator”:
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton, Eliezer Bluman, Josy Dov-Cohen, Itamar Malciel
Shalom Hanoch, Roy Martin, Ray Peterson, Rony Peterson, Moshe Levi
“Mind Church”: Mik Golan, Moti Joseph, David Rasad, Ran Almaliach, Yoram Hazan
Aviv Geffen “The Platinum”: Shlomy Kanean, Oded Shahar, Gabriel Gabi Pollak, Eran Zilberberg, Gil Plotnik
The Choir of the Disabled War Veterans of the Israeli Army “Israel”:
Gavriel Ben-Horin, Nevo Svorai, Ilana Tzabari, Eli Shargarotzki (DJE), Gadi Blori
“The Cubes”: Koby-Moshe Valach, Gilad Ariel, Asaf Zinger, Ilan Sheary
"Snake Fish”: Sha’anan Street, Amir Ben-Ami, David Klemes, Yaya Cohen-Harounoff, Yaron Mohar, Guy Margalit, Moshe Assaraf
“The Joys”: Israel Bright, Tzahi Zaki Har Nevo, Sami Badra, Vitali Podolski, Elad Cohen-Bonen, Sania Kroitor
“White Flag”: Gani Tamir, Katia Kuper, Zaher Abed El Gavad, Mark Smulian, Shadi Haj, Jhonatan Shapiro
“Absolut”: Anna Fishkin, Victor Knoskin, Dmitry Greenberg, Felix Greenberg
Shlomo Gronich & The Sheba Choir performing Mr. Shimon Peres' song
Margalit Zanani, Marco Cohen, Ronen Rahamani Noa , “Ping Pong”:
Yifat Giladi, Chicky, Guy Guy, Ahal Sarale Sharon Nurit Hirsh and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra
And an interview with Mr. Shimon Peres
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Camera: Daniel Babczyk, Sound: Ashi Milo, Research: Livat Netz, Footage: The New Generation, Beni Mor, Script: Izzy Abrahami, Off-Line Editor: Erga Netz,
On-Line Editor: Bert Rasink, Associate Producer: Robert Stel, Producer: Erga Netz, Director: Izzy Abrahami,
Produced by Abrahami-Netz TV Productions, in co-production with the AVRO
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